Soho London: what's on and things to do

Soho is the densest square mile of evening in the country. Theatres, comedy rooms above pubs, jazz clubs, kitchens that serve past midnight and more bars than anyone could visit in a year, all packed into the grid between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Charing Cross Road and Shaftesbury Avenue.

It is also the part of London that has changed most and complains about it most loudly. Some of that is fair. Enough of the old Soho survives that an evening here is still unlike an evening anywhere else in the city.

Daytime

Soho in daylight is for eating and for records. Berwick Street still has record shops and the fruit and veg market; Bar Italia has been open since 1949 and effectively never closes. The bookshops on Charing Cross Road are fewer than they were but the survivors are good. Chinatown, technically its own place on the southern edge, is busiest at lunch and cheapest before six.

Evening and night

The theatres go up between half past seven and eight, which is why the restaurants have two clear sittings and why a table at nine is easier than a table at seven. Ronnie Scott's runs a late show after the main sitting, usually from about a quarter past eleven, and it is cheaper and better than the early one. The comedy rooms above pubs are where most of the country's stand-ups are actually working on a Tuesday.

The pubs on Dean Street and Frith Street spill onto the pavement from six. Last orders in most of them is eleven, which is when Soho's second half starts: the members' bars, the late licences and the places that only make sense after midnight.

Getting home

Oxford Circus, Tottenham Court Road, Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square all serve Soho and all are unpleasant at closing. The Victoria, Central, Northern and Piccadilly lines all run overnight on Friday and Saturday, so weekends are easy. Midweek, the last trains go around half past midnight and the night buses from Trafalgar Square go everywhere.